Need Custom Laptop for Adobe Premiere

D

DDirector

Veteran
So, I am asking this again because I am now on the hunt for a new super computer. But, because I dont know what company to use, where to buy it or anything about the software and stuff about computers, I need your help.

What do I need it for:
- Editing footage: HD & RED (mainly)
- School misc.

Although the laptop will be used at school, I will mainly be using it for editing. Just because I have a laptop, I can now use it at school. But, that doesnt mean that is its main purpose. So, I still need a fast powerful computer.

Why a Laptop?
Well, I am constantly on the go. I would like to use a desktop instead fro editing, but I just cant.

My Budget?
Up to $2,000 CAD.

What I need from the computer?
-Lots of RAM!
-Lots of Memory - 1TB+
-Fast
-Good Nvida graphics
-A properly calibrated screen to give true colours & contrast
-Preferably a non-glossy screen
-15.6" Screen (Not smaller, 17" MAY be acceptable, but I will have to see if it fits in my bag)
-Blu Ray writer if possible


While searching for a custom laptop, I found this website where I can completely customize them; http://web.eurocom.com/EC/ec_model_config1(1,219,0)
Maybe I should get one from here?
I'm not too entirely sure
 
I think you should ask this question in the Adobe Premiere Hardware Forum

http://forums.adobe.com/community/premiere/hardware_forum?view=discussions

Personally ..I do not believe a laptop can be made into a "super computer" for NLE and some of your criteria will be limiting in this regard.

Red footage will challenge the specs of most laptops (and many desktops)

Multiple drives are essential, large screen real estate is a must have...and $$$

Whatever...I am sure the Hardware Forum will have advice from actual users who have overcome the obstacles.
 
Shooter said:
Personally ..I do not believe a laptop can be made into a "super computer" for NLE and some of your criteria will be limiting in this regard.

Red footage will challenge the specs of most laptops (and many desktops)

Multiple drives are essential, large screen real estate is a must have...and $$$
Click to expand...
Well, its more to get the most out of the money I guess.
Then what is required if I need to edit RED footage? Will it actually be hard to do?
 
I agree with Shooter that this could be a real strain for a laptop. I use my older, but pretty powerful laptop for editing only in emergency situations. I'm pretty sure it is the hard drive that makes it perform poorly. And I wasn't trying anything near so taxing as Red footage. The good news is that a newer laptop will likely be even more powerful and have better interfaces (usb 3 for example) for external disks, and maybe even have an SSD disk. But I'm not sure even with all that how it will do performance wise. Besides just looking for a good nvidia card, I'd suggest looking at the adobe site for the supported cards for the mercury playback engine and look for one of those in the laptop version.
 
Michael.

I would recommend a Desktopsystem NLE to you... (and a notebook for your studies and other life).

A laptop NLE is restricting in so many ways and the real biggie is ...configurabilty... for the high demands of serious editing with serious codecs.

Its one and only single advantage is portabilty.

Keeping a desktop up to spec is hard enough but it is not dealing with high price minuterised electronic componentry so much.

Che ck the Red forums for info on edit systems as well.

Do your homework to avoid dissapointment and frustration down the track.
 
I would agree with Shooter to. I did sometime back read about a Desktop which was like a laptop a sort of hybrid, many of the parts were inter changeable with standard desktop parts. but for the life of me cannot remember where I read about it or what the make was.
 
Lenovo W530, workstation Laptop with a Core i7 processor, up to 16gb of memory, 2 hard drives, an NVidia Quadro video card, and a 15.6" Full HD screen. for well under $2k. It even has a colour sensor to properly setup the screen. Great battery life, upwards of 8 hours with the 9 cell battery.

You will pay less if you buy it online at the Lenovo store.
 
I want a desktop, but I don't really have that much room right now for one. However, IF a desktop were to be way more powerful than a laptop with the same price point, I would choose it over a laptop. But, Im still hoping on choosing a laptop over desktop.


I currently edit my own footage shot in HD. But, I will be upgrading my camera in the future and I will be shooting on a RED, or even clients footage. So, I would like something that can handle RED footage for straight editing in Adobe Premiere.

So, if I want to edit footage such as a RED, what would I need in a computer then?

I don't really know anything about computers. Computer talk about all the features is confusing and may be meaning less to me. LOL
If you can explain what I'd need and how much, that would be better.
 
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DDirector said:
I want a desktop, but I don't really have that much room right now for one. However, IF a desktop were to be way more powerful than a laptop with the same price point, I would choose it over a laptop. But, Im still hoping on choosing a laptop over desktop.
Click to expand...

Of course it will be, and it always will be. Laptop technology is essentially based on the desktop technology from 2-3 years prior. They're basically able to get the 2-3 year old desktop technology small enough to fit into a Laptop... but then they're 2-3 years ahead of that on the desktop. And that "outdated" technology in the laptop will almost certainly be more expensive than a desktop with the newer technology; it's a factor of scaling down the tech, which scales up the cost. My 3.4 GHz quad-core, 1TB harddrive, 8GB ram desktop (roughly $2000) was cheaper than my brothers, 3 GHz quad-core, 500GB, 4GB ram laptop ($2300) and he bought it 2 years after I got my desktop.
 
Okay, I will look into desktops and hope I can manage to work with that. I just like the portability to do anything anywhere. But I guess ill sacrifice that.
So, shooting on a RED, what features would I need then? To remain under $2000 and from where?
 
I was at the store just now for a few minutes and this is a prebuild model I found. Tell me what you think, what needs to be improved or can be replaced for cheaper, or anything else:

$1800
Intel i7 3370K
ASUS Z77V-Pro
Evga GeForce GTX 670
Vertex 3 120GB SSD
Seagate 2TB HDD
Corsair Vengence 8GB
Corsair TX750 PSU
LG DVDRW
Windows 7 64Bit
CM Storm Trooper
 
That should be a very good base for a NLE

Very good graphics card.

Will need more Ram and at least one more HDD

A bigger PSU will future proof you (1000w)
 
Very good graphics card.
Oh, I thought it would be too much actually.

Will need more Ram and at least one more HDD
I will be upgrading the RAM. He said its 2 sticks of 4GB, but Ill change that to 1 8GB stick, and add maybe 1 or 2 more for $75 a piece.
What do you mean 1 more HDD? To make it 3TB?

A bigger PSU will future proof you (1000w)
No idea what that is. What is it? How much would it be?
 
The graphic card is loaded with CUDA Cores( 1344) and Premiere loves them. More the better.

I have two graphics cards in my system.

I use a minimum of 4 HDDs in my system

Boot Drive (with Programs/applications exclusively)
Project Drive
Media Drive 1 (Source Files)
Media Drive 2 (Source Files)
Export Drive (Outputs)

Multiple drives for assets and programs etc spread the load on the system.

A RAID system is amost pre requisite for RED 2k/4k

PSU - power supply unit. Systems with drives and cards and big CPU are enregy hungry and it does not take long to be using in excess of 500 watts.

eg. the GTX 670 uses 170 watts alone. You need headroom ( eg 1000w)

You need very good cooling and the case needs to be chosen with that in regard.
 
Scratch the last computer I mentioned, its this one that I have my eye on now; Its a pre-built package, with 2 swapped out parts for better ones.

ASUS $1,940:
Intel i7 3820
Xorsair H60 Liquid
Thermaltake Chaser
Vengeance 16GB 4x4
Evga GeForce GTC 670
Samsung 22x DVD+/-RW
OCZ Vertex 3 120GB
Seagate 2GB HDD
CoolerMaster X700w
Windows 7 HP x64

---------------------------------------------

So, the processor is faster than the last one.
More memory (16GB 4x4 compared to only 8GB 4x4)
Same graphics as before
but its only a 700w, and still does not contain a Blu Ray reader/writer.

---------------------------------------------
The graphic card is loaded with CUDA Cores( 1344) and Premiere loves them. More the better.
I have two graphics cards in my system.
Cant afford 2. But, 1 should be enough.

I use a minimum of 4 HDDs in my system

Boot Drive (with Programs/applications exclusively)
Project Drive
Media Drive 1 (Source Files)
Media Drive 2 (Source Files)
Export Drive (Outputs)

Multiple drives for assets and programs etc spread the load on the system.
What is the size of each/total HDD? Mine would be a total of 16GB, each is 4GB.

A RAID system is amost pre requisite for RED 2k/4k
Currently I am not editing on a RED. I will be sometime soon, so I will upgrade when needed.
Which RAID though?

You need very good cooling and the case needs to be chosen with that in regard.
The one I have is apparently liquid cooling, in a good case. Seems good :)
 
Actually the i7-3770 benchmarks higher than the 3820. They both have 4 cores hyperthreaded. There isn't much point in getting the x79 chipset unless you also get the 6 core i7-3930K or i7-3960X (for an extra $300-650). I would get the first one for sure and put the change into 16GB (4X4GB) or even 32GB (4x8GB) of RAM. The 3770 will run faster and cooler and consume half the power. The 3820 is an entry level for its chipset, the 3770 is the top level chip for latest ivy bridge chipset. Windows 7 Professional is another upgrade to consider if you want to be able to run any older 32-bit software without any hassles. Both of these are beasts with the latest components. You'd have to do some serious customisation to make a massive improvement to either. Boost the RAM for now, get a better PSU down the track when you need to add harddrives.
 
Really? I was told the i7 3820 was going to run much faster than the i7 3770.
I'm so lost as to what to get now. Haha

The two systems I mentioned above have been pre-built, with minor changes.
What if I go with a fully custom computer and get someone to build it for me?
 
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So, I want to see what you guys would prefer to get. Maybe I should build my own system and see if I can save some money on it. Still wanting to keep a maximum of $2,000.

I'm located in Canada, and the closest stores that I know of that you can buy parts individually are from Tigerdirect.ca

Processor:
Intel i7

Motherboard:


Graphics Card:
Evga GeForce GTX 670

Hard Drive:
1[SUP]st[/SUP] – SSD
2[SUP]nd[/SUP] – HDD

RAM:
32GB 8x4

PSU:
1000w

Optical Drives:
DVD+/-RW
Blu Ray Reader/Writer (If within price range)

Operating Systems:
Windows 7

Case:


Im not sure if anything else is missing. There probably is, so include that. Im not a computer guy. I literally just started learning about this less than 2 days ago.
 
Either one will do what you want. All the benchmark scores I've seen are close with the 3770 slightly ahead although it doesn't overclock as easily. Bear in mind benchmarks are for the computer geek the equivalent of pixel peeping and the tests are typically designed to isolate a specific components performance. Other cpus in similar performance territory are the i7-2700K and i7-2600K (older technology but still at the top of the pile). Since CS5 the GPU makes a big difference too. Whether you pick the one that is cheapest, the newest or simply your favourite colour the realworld performance of these options won't be dramatically different.
 
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